EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
XXX 
386 
men and women disdain clothes they love to decorate 
their heads. Ostrich and marabou feathers hold as hio^h 
a place in the scale of fashion among Ethiopians as 
among the milliners of Bond Street. 
The Masai wear a head-dress of ostrich feathers when 
raiding, in order to inspire terror (p. 93). The Karamojo, 
Suk, and Tnrkana stick them in their chignons (p 160). 
The Kavirondos use feathers in the construction of their 
enormous head-dresses. A British Field Alarshal wears a 
plume in his helmet which helps to emphasise his rank, 
but these feathers are usually obtained from the tail 
of a barnyard fowl. 
The long hairs of a giraffe’s tail are used as threads for 
sewing, or for stringing beads. European sportsmen 
who shoot elephants, collect the horn-like hairs from the 
tails for their female relatives and friends to fashion 
into bracelets. British surgeons often use hairs from 
a horse’s tail for suturing wounds. Tlie Masai employ 
the tuft of a gnu’s tail as a ffy-ffap, and it is extremely 
useful in a land abounding in ffies and gnats. 
